


Tell Me True

by cest_what



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cest_what/pseuds/cest_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"This is an emergency beffsy situation," Roxy said. "Priority, like, 8.3, which is a totally bullshit number I just made up that basically means 'Outranks the fuck out of whatevs bs class full of stuff I already learned years ago that we have next'."</i><br/> <br/>A high school AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Me True

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the trope 'truth or dare' at the [Female Character Trope Fest](http://such-heights.dreamwidth.org/tag/female+character+trope+fest).
> 
> Thank you to blottingtheink for the quick and excellent beta.

Roxy grabbed Jane's hand after fourth period and pulled her into the storeroom opposite the second floor girls' bathroom.

Jane yelped. "Wh– _Roxy_."

Roxy kicked the door closed behind them with her heel, and Jane fumbled on the wall behind her. She had been dragged into this particular storeroom often enough to know where – ah, there it was. The close space was illuminated – poorly, with cheap low light – as her fingers found the light switch.

"This is an emergency beffsy situation," Roxy said. "Priority, like, 8.3, which is a totally bullshit number I just made up that basically means 'Outranks the fuck out of whatevs bs class full of stuff I already learned years ago that we have next'."

Jane crossed her arms and gave Roxy her best unconvinced eyebrow quirk. " _I_ have History. I don't know what you have, but I'd be willing to wager that both of our teachers subscribe to that cuckoobird concept of 'attendance'."

"Lies, Janey, lies and mistruths –"

"Untruths."

Roxy shook her head, leaning in. "Poor naive Jane. The truth is totes that all teachers wish their students would never come in at all. It's all kinds of legit the dark secret at the heart of the administration."

"The dark secret, huh?"

Roxy nodded solemnly. "Pay attention, because I am hella full of truths today."

Jane rolled her eyes, shifting her bag on her shoulder. "I really do have to get to History. What's this goshdarned emergency, anyway?"

Roxy snaked an arm around Jane's neck, pulling their heads together. Her hair brushed Jane's cheek. Jane tried not to shiver. "The emergency, Janey, is that we need to celebrate my birthday."

"Oh, for –" Jane ducked away. "Your birthday was months ago."

Roxy shrugged. "I know, but it totally sucked. My mom was away and you weren't there and Strider got in one of his introverted jerk moods and poor Jake was just like, 'shucks, what is this den of lightless misery and pining, I thought I was invited to a birthday party'. The whole thing sucked balls."

Jane tried not to feel guilty. "I did have a bad 'flu, you know."

"I _know_ ," Roxy said, "probably your night blew way worse than mine did, I know that. That's why we need to celebrate now. I brought supplies."

She produced a bottle of Jack Daniels from her bag, waggling her eyebrows. The bottle was already a third empty. From Roxy's too-bright eyes and the slight sloppiness of her smile, Jane could guess how she'd spent her morning. She probably hadn't gone to any classes at all.

(She was right, though, that what they were learning was for the most part material she had already grasped years ago. Numbering two precocious geniuses among your best friends was something that demanded adaptation, Jane had found.)

Jane raised her eyebrows. "That's why we need to celebrate now," she repeated. "Three months after the event. In the middle of a school day. In a closet."

Roxy dropped her bag at her feet and slid down to sit against the door, setting the whiskey by her knee. "Did you know," she said, "that you are abso-freaking-ad _orable_ when you're being sceptical. I am completely fucking in love with that little thing your mouth does." She patted the floor beside her. "Also yes, that is exactly the situation. Get down here."

Jane hesitated. It wasn't as though it was a foregone conclusion that she'd agree. She said no to Roxy frequently. Somewhat frequently, anyway. And she didn't think that encouraging Roxy's drinking-at-school habit by joining in was exactly a tenet of the best friend code. But despite her flippancy, Roxy was upset right now: it was visible in the tight set of her shoulders. She would bring it up if she wanted to talk about it, but Jane was going to go out on a limb and guess that things had gone pear shaped at home again.

Jane slid down the wall to sit next to her, kicking a mop bucket off to the side to make room for her feet. Roxy threw her an oddly piercing look: grateful, but also intent. But all she said was, "Truth or dare?"

Jane groaned. "Oh, lordy."

Roxy poked her knee. "This is a birthday celebration. That means party games." She took a swig of the whiskey and passed it over, and Jane regarded it dubiously then quickly tilted it up to her mouth. "Blargh," she said.

Roxy shook her head. "Blasphemy, Janey. So, _truth_ ... or _dare?_ " She put a hand on Jane's knee and shook it a little, making sure she had her attention.

Jane was distracted by the warm pressure of her hand, but not so much that she didn't also notice the intentness to the little glances Roxy was flicking towards her. It wasn't _just_ that she was upset and looking for comfort and distraction. There was something else going on here.

Jane immediately settled down to solve the mystery. If it was truth or dare they were playing, then probably there was something Roxy wanted to know that she couldn't work out how to ask. There was one good way to find out what, then!

"Truth," Jane said. She took a slightly larger slug of whiskey to fortify herself in case it turned out to be a doozy.

Roxy tipped her head back against the door. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm." She tilted her head to look at Jane. "Ok. Janey. Jane. What is the sexiest thing you have ever baked?"

"What is the ... _what?_ "

Roxy winked. "You and me and everybody you ever met know it's measuring cups and flour on your nose that get you hot." She tapped Jane on the nose, demonstrating, and her own nose crinkled as she grinned.

Jane huffed. "Fine. I'm not even sure how to parse this question, but ... let's say macaroons. Macaroons are the sexiest thing I have ever baked."

Roxy raised her eyebrows. "'Let's say'?" she said. "Jane, that doesn't sound very honest. That sounds like you're hiding behind some kindsa sophistry."

"Shoosh, you. There's no sensible way to answer that ridiculous question and you know it." Jane pushed her knees sideways against Roxy's. "Truth or dare?"

Roxy lifted the bottle to take a swig, her eyes sparkling at Jane. She lowered it and wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, and really that should not be so appealing. Jane made a face at her. "Truth," Roxy said.

"Um. Ok." Jane tried to think of something just as ridiculous to ask. "If you could be any pair of shoes, what would you be?"

"Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Roxy stretched, twisting her arms above her head. "Mary Janes, obvs," she said. She tilted her head sideways, her eyes still bright. "And I would think about you."

Jane winced. "There are some internet-born expressions that really _shouldn't_ be said aloud."

Roxy shook her head sadly, dropping her arms into her lap. "Here'm I, trying to flirt, and you're correcting my English usage."

 _I wish you wouldn't flirt, then_ , Jane thought, frustrated. It was just habit, she knew, and it was arguably integral to Roxy's entire personality, and definitely part of her charm, but it was still ... well, it was hard.

Jane propped her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands. "Your turn."

"Mmn." Roxy waved a hand while she finished swallowing, and set the bottle down again. "Truth or dare?"

Well, if it wasn't a truth Roxy was waiting for, then, "Dare," Jane said. She wet her lips, faintly nervous.

Roxy narrowed her eyes. "I – dare – you –" She paused. Jane stared at her. "To ..."

"To?"

"Toooooooooo ..."

"Shall I go make a cup of tea?"

Roxy reached across and put a hand over Jane's mouth. "I dare you ... to deliberately invoke a stupidass grammatical mistake in a sentence."

"Oh, blargh."

Roxy went off into giggles. "I'm w- _waiting_ ," she got out through them.

Jane poked her tongue out. "I should have went with truth," she said obediently. Then she hid her face in the front of her shirt. "Augh! I feel as though I should wash out my mouth with soap."

Roxy's laughter had gotten breathless. She batted at Jane's hair, trying to make her show her face. Jane batted blindly back, choking down her own laughter. One of them kicked out and knocked over a broom which dislodged something on a shelf and suddenly both of them were throwing their arms up to protect themselves from the small avalanche of cleaning gear. Something that felt like a dustpan hit Jane on the head.

She lowered her arms, slowly, and met Roxy's wide eyes. Roxy put a finger to her mouth in a comical warning to be silent, and then they were falling onto each other with their fists shoved into their mouths to hush their giggles.

Roxy's laughter died down before Jane's did. Jane became aware that Roxy's face was very close to hers, and she had gone oddly still. Jane hiccupped, trying to strangle down her giggles, and Roxy reached out and smoothed back a piece of hair that had got caught in Jane's mouth. Jane's pulse jumped, her breath getting caught in her throat. She breathed out, carefully. Then she gently struggled out from under Roxy.

"I can't believe nobody heard that," Jane said, concentrating on brushing down her clothes. She kicked a spare mop head off her ankle and determined that she wouldn't let Roxy leave here without helping her clean up the mess.

"Maaaaaaaybe there's no one to hear," Roxy said. She rescued the Jack Daniels from where it had rolled into the other corner. It looked as though the lid had held; she petted it and set it down again. "Maybe the zombie apocalypse came and went while we were talking about way the hell more important things, and now it's just. Tumbleweed and shit out there. And like a couple dismembered hands still twitching a bit, in the hallways, all _shit totes went down here_ style."

Roxy still had that on-edge, waiting air to her. Jane didn't get it. She hadn't asked Jane anything important, and she hadn't used the opportunity to dare her for anything serious either. Was she waiting for the right moment? For what? This mystery was completely failing to unravel.

Jane nudged the toe of her shoe against Roxy's ankle. "Truth or dare? Unless we're talking about the undead hordes, now."

Roxy's lips quirked downwards. "Truth, I guess." She sounded a little forlorn, which was all wrong when she'd just been laughing. Then she looked up and smiled, loose-boned and sloppy-graceful as she stretched her arms out in front and hooked them over her knees.

Jane bit her lip. "What are you hoping for?"

Roxy put her fingers over her opened mouth in a kind of mock coyness, and damnit, she was only being ironic and it should _not_ be sexy. "Why, Ms Crocker," she said in the arch Southern accent that always made Dirk go very stoic, "you know I'm always hoping for the same thing. I just keep hoping some day you'll look over here and notice little ol' me pining away for you, and just goshgolly sweep me off my feet."

Jane resisted the urge to hit herself in the forehead. Why would Roxy even _choose_ truth if she was just going to deflect every question with the same cockamamie meaningless flirting she always used around Jane.

Jane's train of thought did a little hop-step-stumble off the tracks.

She looked at Roxy, her eyes widening. Why _would_ she choose truth and then use a flippant lie? Roxy had been casually flirting with Jane as long as they'd known each other, but this year it had turned into _all the time_ , and Jane had been so busy concentrating on how desperately hard it was to be in love with your best friend when she was constantly flirting with you and it didn't mean anything, that she'd ...

... not even considered that it might mean anything.

Roxy had noticed the change in how Jane was looking at her. She parted her lips to say something, then stopped, biting at her bottom lip where she'd already scraped the dark lipstick away. Her eyes were wide and dark.

What if the reason she wanted to play this game wasn't to get Jane to answer something, but to get her to listen when Roxy answered?

Oh gosh, Jane's throat was tight. What if she was wrong. What if this was all so, so wrong. Jane couldn't get away with passing something off as flirty joking, not like Roxy could, what if she said something and, what if she _did_ something, what if ...

Oh, heck, she had to say it. "Roxy? Truth or dare?"

She could see Roxy starting to say that she'd just had her turn. She must have seen the terror in Jane's eyes because she stopped, and said, "... dare?"

Jane curled her fingers into her palms and invoked a tired classic of the genre. "I dare you to kiss a girl."

Roxy went still. Slowly, her mouth started to curve. Her eyes were sparkling.

"Is that right," she said. "Just, like, any girl? I mean I don't want to misunderstand the dare here and accidentally forfeit, the Lalonde honour is serious shit to uphold. Are we talking ..."

Jane shook her head, a laugh bubbling up inside her. "Oh my gosh, shut up," she said, tugging Roxy closer by her collar.

Roxy tangled an arm around her neck, snickering like a tool, and then all Jane's laughter was gone with her breath as Roxy kissed her.


End file.
